I wouldn't wish my experience with Belcar (Prestige formula) on anyone! My wife and I visited Belcar at Frewville Adelaide, where we were approached by a 'salesman' (Serge), who unbeknown to us was actually the Dealer Principle. We asked if he could match the price on a 2016 Fiat 500x Pop we had been quoted by another dealership? Unfortunately, the other dealer did not have the colour we were after, or we would have given them the business. We asked Serge to include window tinting, a boot liner and a chrome pack in the quote as had been included in the quote he was to match. Serge said, we would have to pay $500 more for the colour we were after as it was metallic paint, to which we agreed.
Serge pretended he was just a salesman on the floor and when we asked if it was the best price he could give us, he said, I don't even know whether I will be able to get this approved by the boss. We asked Serge if there were other chrome additions or extra's we could add to the car to which he said, 'no'. After agreeing to make the purchase, he went down stairs to the get the contract from the printer. I noticed it did not itemise the extra's we had included, so he went to print a corrected copy. On his return he pointed out the itemised extra's, the price and said, "just sign here". Unbeknown to us, he had only put 3 months registration on the car despite the comparative quote having 12 months registration.
On paying the deposit, the cashier told us that Serge was actually the boss! I believe he deliberately omitted the additional items on the quotation to distract us from the fact he had only included 3 months registration instead of 12 months as discussed and then he directed our eyes and rushed us to sign the contract.
That night as we looked on line at the Fiat 500x we considered whether it would be better to upgrade to the next model to gain the Satellite navigation. We believed this might be important when looking at resale in the future. In the morning I rang Serge and asked if it were possible to upgrade to the Pop Star. He said, "I have already ordered the Pop". I asked if he was able to cancel the order as it wouldn't have been processed yet. He said, "no, but I do have a red Pop Star in stock I can let you have and I'll put the POP on the yard". I asked if the car in stock was a demo or whether he could make it a demo in order to give us a better price. Serge said, "no, the car is brand new". I also told Serge we found there were in fact other options available for the car, like chrome light bezels and chrome bonnet spear which we wanted to purchase. Naturally, he did not act surprised by this.
After agreeing to the price Serge set, we waited from the 2nd - 9th Dec before we were sent the new contract which was attached to an email. As with our first contract, the new inclusions were not itemised in detail. In the distraction caused by this, I did not notice he was trying to sell us a 2015 model car. Why would we even think in Dec 2016 that Serge would try and sell us a 2015 model when he emphasised to me, the car was "brand new"? The previous contract we signed had 'new' for manufacture and 'new' for compliance where this one had 9/15 for manufacture and 11/15 for compliance. These details were not obvious to me when checking the contract as there was no reason to believe this detail would be any different from the previous contract. Unfortunately, it was only after signing the contract and seeking to get insurance, that the 2015 dates were brought to my attention. When I phoned Serge to ask why he was trying to mislead us by selling us this old car as new, he told me it was still 'new' and he had fitted our tinting and chrome pack to it now, so pretty well, bad luck. When I said, "why didn't you say it was a 2015 model", he said, "you didn't ask!" We discussed and agreed on the price for a 2016 run out vehicle and not a 2015 model.
From the very beginning, I believe Serge was deceptive and misleading. What a dirty way to do business.
I contacted Fiat Australia dispute resolution department. The case worker said there is a 24 - 48hr turn around before someone would get back to me. Five phone calls and nine days later with the promise to escalate my case each time, I was informed, I would need to speak with the 'Area Services Manager' if I am not happy. After multiple attempts to speak with the 'Area Services Manager', I am yet to hear from him. While it is true, I signed the contract, it seems I stupidly exercised too much trust in Serge. Serge behaved in an unscrupulous manner, not what I would expect from Dealer Principle of a supposed "Prestige car yard".
I could never recommend Serge or Belcar to anyone wanting to purchase a vehicle. As for Fiat Australia, if they are unwilling to intervene when they see this deceptive behaviour, they are complicit in allowing this rogue dealer to act on their behalf. So much for the Fiat code of conduct! read more
